Many port facilities are under economic stress from several fronts, including antiquated technology, environmental restrictions, just-in-time manufacturing practices, overlapping federal/state/local jurisdictions, and the lack of basic technological infrastructure to orchestrate a global network for intermodal asset security monitoring and tracking. Land competition and environmental regulations likely will further restrict the geographic expansion of current port facilities. Further, the information systems for managing the supply chain still largely depend on manual date entry processes.

There is too much worry over who is going to pay for responses to a disaster. Currently, there are Urban Search & Rescue teams that can respond while the the lines of response and responsibility are clear enough that arguing over the bill obfuscates the problem.

Emergency Response System: Training very first responders |

Every first responder, whether they are EMS, paramedic, doctor, nurse firefighter or law enforcement should have access to the Emergency Response System - a set of guidelines for "very first responders" that can help to evaluate and respond to medical emergencies. The ERS can also help school officials, or other public/private organizations so that in the event of an emergency, rapid medical response can be executed.